Government
Councilmember Tom Butt got the ball rolling when he suggested an amendment for council consideration with regards to accepting and disclosing money, which says that a councilmember who receives more than $250 from a business or individual cannot vote on what that business or individual asks for during future council votes.
Bagging groceries, flipping pizzas and sitting by the public pool as a lifeguard used to be the ultimate jobs for young people. But with funding from Kaiser Permanente, five motivated teenagers from Richmond’s Police Activities League (RPAL) will skip the chump change and start their own business.
On Saturday evening more than 30 Richmond residents concerned about the environment gathered at the home of Marci Valdivieso to watch a documentary about Wangari Maathai. Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist who started the Green Belt Movement that shed light on the importance of trees and soil conservation in 1977, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She died last year due to complications from ovarian cancer. The event was organized by Richmond Trees, a small…
Not too long ago, the men now sitting around this table at the Contra Costa Probation Office were in prison. “I want to ask how long have you been in prison,” Chief Adult Probation Officer Philip Kader asks them. They respond with three, six and even 12 times. But now they’re getting a taste of their newly found freedom.
On Tuesday night at Richmond’s City Council meeting, upset residents and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, mostly dressed in purple t-shirts and yellow armbands, signed a unity pledge against hate speech and asked council members to do the same. The standing-room-only crowd also heard 65 people voice their concerns about homophobic comments they heard during the last public meeting.
In a country where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate roughly 90 million people are considered obese, some Richmond residents say that taxing soft drinks is an effective way to reverse the trend. On May 15, city council leaders In Richmond voted 5-2 to put a special tax on sodas on the November 6 ballot. The soda tax would add a one-cent per ounce surcharge to soda and other sugary fruit drinks with less than ten percent juice….
Mike “Raccoon Eyes” Kinney is not a typical candidate for Richmond city council. He wears 17 medicine bags around his neck and a beret on his head. Ask the lifelong Richmond resident why he’s running for office for the first time, and expect an impassioned soliloquy, with pitched intonations and kinetic gestures that cut through the cigarette smoke. Kinney, 58, has a cup of coffee in one hand and a filter cigarette in the other, but neither calms his restless…
Talk about bang for your buck—14,000 square feet for a dollar a year ain’t bad. In terms of food production, that could mean a whole lot of apples, and whatever else will take root on the corner of 1st Street and Chanslor Avenue. The nearly half-acre lot sits just one block east of the Iron Triangle and used to be a popular spot for drug dealing and a dumping ground for trash. Now thanks to the daringness of one resident,…
On Saturday night a handful of Richmond and Bay Area residents gathered near the steps of the Civic Center Plaza for an overnight vigil to show concern about homelessness, what many in the group call a social justice and human right’s issue. Guest speakers gave inspirational speeches, and before it got too dark everyone shared a light meal and conversations of hope. When the cold wind and nightfall overtook them, 13 people sat in a circle, lit a candle and…